Winter mooring on fixed jetty? (Windermere)

catlotion

catlotion

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We're considering a winter mooring down at the bottom of Windermere but are worried about the problems related to rising lake levels as it is a fixed jetty. Does anyone have any experience of wintering on a fixed jetty mooring? I know there was carnage in 2003 at the marinas when the floods came. We based down in Leeds so can't just pop up there quickly if there's a flash flood...

I suppose there are ways of configuring mooring lines so they provide a bit more give when waters rise? Snubbers/springs any good? (Boat is a Beneteau Oceanis 350)

Any tips much appreciated. It would be nice to be on a jetty rather than relying on our increasingly unreliable Webasto heater on a swing mooring!
 
I would be a bit concerned. If you leave sufficient slack to accomodate rise and fall then the boat will potentially gat a bashing from the winds. Tight and you risk flooding. I would be far happier on a ( secure ) swing mooring. Properly winterised what do you need the eber for?
 
You could make a bight in one of the lines & double it, then put on a seizing of some easy breaking stuff such as ordinary string. if the lines are subject to any undue strain, the string will break and allow another metre or so of slack.
 
I might consider a fixed jetty if it was somewhere where there was a man to adjust the lines as the lake goes up and down, but not just on any old jetty.

The folks in the Marina Village did try to look after the boats but had to give up when the jetties went under water, as far as I know anyway. It was quite an extreem event was that one.

Where are you looking at?
 
When I see some of the hassles people have on the fixed berths on Windermere, it reminds me of the answer from a guy when asked why he had a swinging mooring at Holyhead in preference to using the marina.

He said 'If I wanted to smash my boat up I would buy a cheap sledge hammer and do it myself. If I put my boat in that marina it would get just as damaged, but I would have spent so much on the berth I could no longer afford to drown my sorrows!".

No winter berth on Windermere is 'fit and forget'. The Lake can go up and down dramatically and if we have another cold winter, the ice builds up from the edges (particularly around wooden pilings) and can cause serious damage if moved around by the wind.

I put on to the Lake to do the Winter Series for years, but was glad I could be around at times.

Is there no one locally who can keep an eye on it?
 
It's down at Lakeside on the hotel jetties there. We like to keep using the boat through the winter but it gets pretty chilly on those swing moorings! Our Webasto isn't really up to the job (need the bigger model). The electric supply at the jetty is quite appealing, but flooding and freezing are very worrying. I suppose leaving heaters on when it gets cold will help with the freezing a little..

The chap there said he keeps an eye on the levels and will let us know and would tweak the ropes in an emergency.

I've seen the photos of the Marina Village boat sinkings - not good!
 
We keep ours on a swinging mooring as we cant get there in a hurry or as regular as we would like.

The lake can rise and fall quite dramatically.

A friend of ours keeps his at Aquatics over the winter and he got worried last year as the gang way to the jetty was underwater and they are floating Jetties :eek:

Scott
 
I have kept my boat (27ft) on a fixed jetty mooring at Windermere Village for the past three years wthout any problem. I use a system of rise and fall weights which is common in the marina. So far so good but I must say the marina is very sheltered. I don't see how you will get battered by other boats - I have never seen any sign of this. Also the guys at the marina are vigilant and will often alter your warps when necessary
 
catlotion said:
I suppose leaving heaters on when it gets cold will help with the freezing a little..
Click to expand...
We take ours into a marina with brackish water over the winter - it invariably freezes at some point in the winter - but there's always a bit of water around the boat - probably because the boat is never still ...
So unless it gets really really cold I don't think ice would be the main issue ...

We'll be attached to floating pontoons - so we have no issue with the rise and fall ... although we do check for chaffing and will put on extra lines or possibly change the whole arrangement if a storm is forecast ...
 
I've been on a jetty at the North end of the lake in the summer and that was bad enough. I tried various arrangements with fender boards and the like but not matter what I did, I never really got it satisfactory. Leaving the warps very long and hanging a length of heavy chain off the middle of each of them seemed to help - the weight of the chains kept the boat alongside but allowed a fair bit of movement with the rise and fall of the lake. It was in the Northern half though, with a long fetch to the West. Getting bumped against the jetty was the biggest problem, and if the lake got too high, the rubbing strakes would hook over the edge of the jetty at times on the way down. A swinging mooring was MUCH better. At least the bottom of the lake is more sheltered though.
 
I wouldn't leave a boat on a jetty here if I wasn't around. There have been a couple of cruisers on those jetties for some years and they seem to have been OK though. On the other hand in the floods in 2009 a cruiser sank on the jetty at Stock Park just north of where you propose to be.
A swinging mooring is much more gentle on a boat as whilst they do yaw and tug a bit, they aren't bash-bashing at the topsides.


I'm sure you could make a boat pretty secure and if there is someone local who will keep an eye out that could be and answer. As long as they are reliable and genuinely local. If floods or snow prevent them getting there, that's the worst time to be let down.
 
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